Green-Ellis reflects on running game

Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis spoke to the media following the win and talked about the running game stepping up in the second half.

Q: What was the difference in the second half? In the first half you didn’t run much and in the second half you guys were chewing it up.

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: We came in and made some halftime adjustments and kind of got accustomed to how they wanted to play the game, and so we made our adjustments and we were able to go off of that.

Q: In general terms what kind of adjustments [did the Vikings make]? Blocking schemes?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Some of our plays and play calling. Every game you come in to face a team you do different things and they did a lot of movement on us in the first half and we were able to come in and adjust and made things work in the second half.

Q: No disrespect intended to the offensive linemen, but talk about the chance to run behind a guy like Alge Crumpler.

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Like you said, no disrespect to any of the linemen. I think our linemen played great today and Alge is a great blocker. Not only Alge, but also Rob Gronkowski too, they are all great blockers but like you said, Alge is one of our great blockers.

Q: What were your thoughts on that last late-game drive when you really had to hold onto the ball?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: That is kind of like our situation football that we go over every Friday in practice, having a four-minute offense. We just try to stay in bounds and keep the clock moving and things like that. We were able to come out today and play good situational football.

Q: Was there one running play that got it started? You guys struggled in the first half. Was there one play that you guys could call on?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I think our first play out of the box in the second half was a kind of positive run play for us and after that most of them were mostly positive. It’s one of those things, once you get things going, get momentum going and get a rhythm in your offense … when we get in that rhythm it’s kind of hard to stop.

Q: That was your run up the middle for 10 yards, maybe?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I don’t how many yards it was for but I think that was the one. It was the first one out of the half.

Q: You had a lot of carries in that last drive. Was it tiring at all?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: No, not at all. It’s 40 degrees outside, so I wasn’t really getting winded or anything like that. They called two or three timeouts in that drive so they give you time.

Q: What are your thoughts on the way this team is winning the past few weeks? Coming down to the last drive almost every week having these tight ball games.

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I am just happy to come out of here with a win. No matter if it’s by 50, by 10 or by 20 [points]. I am just happy to come out with a victory.

Q: What did it take to convince [Tom] Brady to give the ball to a guy that could actually get it in?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Tom just the calls run plays and kind of makes checks and stuff like that to make sure he doesn’t run me into a bad look. He normally does a good job with that.

Q: Was that the actual play on second down when you were running the clock?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Like I said, we plan situational football and at that point we knew how much time there was on the clock. That’s kind of one of those things that coach has us do and whatever the play is we just make sure we are playing good situational football at the time. It’s one of those things we work on in camp and in practices we work on it and it paid off.

Q: Talk about running in the fourth quarter with a lead. Do you run a little differently?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Once you get to that six-minute mark and you have the lead and you want to get that four-minute offense. What happens is, you want to get a couple first downs to keep the clock moving. You don’t want to let an offense like Minnesota get the ball back and we kept the ball away from them, so that was positive.

Q: Do you enjoy getting the ball in that situation, in drives like that?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Of course I enjoy taking the ball but I also enjoy taking hand-offs, blocking for [Tom] Brady or anybody. As long as we are moving down the field I am happy.

Q: What are your thoughts on the team’s record at this point? 6-1. Did you think that this was where the team would be at this point?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I never really go ahead of it. I am going week-to-week. Right now I am getting ready for Cleveland and wanting to come out of that game with a victory but they are a tough football team and we are going to have to work hard and get ready for them all week.

Q: Are you where you want to be?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I am pretty cool right now. I want the team to improve, that’s one thing that I do want to do each week. Each week I want to build on what I did the last week and correct the mistakes.

Q: What way do you feel like you have most improved from your first season to where you are now?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I am not really sure. When I come in and watch the films on Mondays I just want to get better in whatever it was that we didn’t do well on Sunday. Whatever we did, I want to make sure it’s better for the next game so I don’t continue to make the same mistakes twice.

Q: Do you feel different as a runner with your decisions when you get the ball?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: We are just doing a good job trying to play as a team and play complimentary offense, defense and special teams.

Q: What does it says about two undrafted guys, you and Danny [Woodhead] who in the end complement each other well with a 6-1 record. They say he was too small, what did they say about you?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Whatever it was or whatever it is I don’t really want to get into because that was in my past and you can’t do anything about the past I’m just thinking about the future.

Q: What does it say about you guys?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I am not really sure on that answer. You’re going to have to ask I guess one of the 32 teams in the NFL what happened to me. All I can do is move on and move forward and continue to get better.

Q: How did it feel when you guys were on offense taking advantage of some of the opportunities that the defense gave you like the [Devin] McCourty interception?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: Like I said, we want to play good complimentary football and when the defense gives us the ball and good fielding position we want to punch it in or if special teams gives us the ball in a punt return or gives us the ball in the short-field we want to get points out of it. We don’t want to come up empty handed.

Q: What are your reflections on your first multiple touchdown game?

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS: I am just happy we scored and happy we came out with a victory.